• General Guidelines
• Preserving Paper and Books
• And now a word about lamination…
• Tape
• Preserving Photographs
• Preserving Sound/Moving Images
• Final Word

General Guidelines

Most families have photographs of ancestors, home movies of childhood memories, or even old letters that contribute to a family's history. These items often have sentimental value. Family treasures have the same preservation requirements as the records entrusted to the Archives and they share the same enemies. Much like professional conservators you too should protect your personal collections from the same external factors as outlined in the Enemies of History section.

Proper storage is the best means of ensuring the preservation of your archives. Regardless of media type, all archival records benefit from a clean, stable environment that is cool and dry. Avoid storing archival material of any kind in basements, attics or garages. These areas tend to have very extreme temperature and relative humidity fluctuations, often are prone to flooding, and typically have more problems with insect and rodent activity.

A general guideline is to store your personal archives in the most environmentally stable areas of your home such as the main floor or upper levels, away from sources of heat such as fireplaces, heat registers and windows. Also avoid storing your archives along outside walls because environmental fluctuations tend to be greater in these areas.

Preserving Paper and Books

The most prevalent type of material in archival collections is paper. Paper quality can vary greatly. Generally paper made from linen or cotton rags is much more stable and robust than paper made from mechanically ground wood pulp.

The best way to store paper-based records is in acid-free, buffered document boxes or in print boxes. Individual documents can be stored in acid-free buffered file folders or envelopes, either vertically in document boxes or flat in print boxes.

If you choose to store your documents vertically, be sure to fill the box to give the documents enough support to remain upright so they will not curl over time. Insert spacers (that can be bought or made) to prevent items from curling in a box that is under-filled. Conversely, you should not overfill a box. There should be enough room to easily insert a finger on either side of an item to remove it safely.

Another option is to insert paper documents into plastic protective sleeves. Such sleeves are clear, allowing documents to be viewed while providing some physical support. These sleeves can be purchased from archival suppliers in various sizes. Look for the trade name ‘Mylar D’ or ‘Melinex’ when shopping for good quality plastic sleeves. Both of these plastics are inert polyesters that will not degrade over time. Other stable plastics are pure polypropylene and polyethylene.

The decision to use plastic or paper enclosures should be made based on the overall environmental conditions in which the collections are stored and how much handling your records will receive. Paper enclosures prevent unnecessary light exposure. They are porous which allows for good air circulation, easy to label with pencil and are relatively inexpensive. The alkaline reserve in buffered enclosures also provides an extra barrier of protection by absorbing acids and slowing down the deterioration process. Paper enclosures will also buffer the surrounding environment reducing damage caused by fluctuations.

On the other hand, if the document will be used regularly, you may want to use plastic enclosures so that they are not damaged through direct handling. Plastic enclosures cannot be recommended for all types of records however, because they generate a static-electricity charge. This charge will attract the pigment layer away from the paper support if the media is friable (easily lifted) as in the case of charcoal, pastels or soft graphite. Plastic enclosures should also be avoided if records will be stored in a damp environment as moisture can be trapped within the enclosure, potentially leading to mould growth.

Books are also commonly found in personal collections. Most books are fairly well designed as far as preservation is concerned. Hard front and back covers protect the text and images from light and the environment. Most often, damage to books occurs through handling.

If a book will not lie flat, do not use force to open it. The covers should always be supported when the book is open.

Many books are damaged by the habit of pulling them off the shelf by the head cap or the top of the spine. It is much safer to push the two adjacent books inward and remove the book by grasping the middle of the spine along both sides. Place similar-sized books next to each other on the shelf vertically, packing them neither too loosely nor too tightly. This will help prevent warping if a tall book is next to a short book.

Folded down page corners, commonly known as "dog ears", are also damaging as the page corners break off over time. Protect fragile books by placing them in custom fitted boxes or tying them together with unbleached cotton twill tape (available at fabric stores). Avoid the use of rubber bands or string. Books with dry flaking leather covers can be wrapped in paper or polyester jackets to keep the fragments and dirt from transferring to hands, adjacent books and the pages of the textblock.

And now a word about lamination…

.....NEVER laminate a paper document to protect it.

Tape

Avoid using tape to repair tears in archival documents. Adhesives from pressure-sensitive tapes will deteriorate over time, staining the document as they migrate farther into the paper. The “carriers” (plastic or paper) often detach, exposing the adhesive that can then stick to adjacent items.

It is better to place the fragments of a document in a plastic sleeve to hold them together. The static in the plastic will work to keep the fragments in place.

Preserving Photographs

Photographs exist in a wide range of formats, each with a different degree of stability. The most stable are black and white silver gelatin prints, platinum prints and carbon prints; the least stable are albumens, salted paper prints and colour prints. Always handle photographic media with lint-free, cotton gloves so that sweat and oil from your hands does not cause permanent damage.

Photographic prints can be stored in albums that use acid-free paper, and many archival quality photographic albums are now commercially available. Individual prints can be attached to album pages using paper or Mylar corners, or by slits cut directly into the album page.

Avoid the use of "magnetic" or "no stick" albums as the adhesive on the pages will yellow and deteriorate over time, staining your photographs and making their removal problematic.

Photographic prints can also be stored like paper documents, either in paper or inert plastic enclosures. Be sure to select photographic enclosures that have passed ANSI's (American National Standard Institute) Photographic Activity Test (PAT).

If you decide to use plastic enclosures be sure that the relative humidity remains below 70% as emulsion layers can stick to the plastic surface if the relative humidity is too high.

It is always best to label the enclosure rather than the actual print, and this can be said for all archival material. If you must label a print, use a soft pencil on the back of a print. Only write a minimal amount of information in the bottom corner and do not press hard as you write. Never use ink to label prints because it can migrate through the photo to the image side causing irreversible staining. Also avoid the use of pressure sensitive labels. Adhesives from labels will deteriorate over time and can cause staining as they migrate further into the paper fibres of a print.

If possible, separate prints from negatives for storage. Keep colour transparencies/slides in acid-free paper envelopes or in polypropylene slide pages. Avoid PVC (polyvinyl chloride) slide pages because they deteriorate over time and will damage anything they contact. These are easy to identify by their strong plastic odour.

Historic cased photographs can be stored flat in paper envelopes or four-flap enclosures. Loose tintypes can be stored in polyester sleeves unless the emulsion layer is flaking, and then paper enclosures should be used.

Preserving Sound and Moving Images

Other types of archival media often found in personal archives are sound recordings, motion picture films and videos. This area of preservation presents a challenge for any archives.

Formats have changed greatly. In just over a century we have gone from wax cylinder sound recordings to 8mm home movies to DVDs.

Technological obsolescence necessitates that we either continually migrate holdings to new playback formats or preserve both the original records and the machines required to read them. Private vendors can reformat these types of records if you choose this preservation strategy. Look under “Video Production", “Video Post Production” or “Recording Service-Sound & Video” in the Yellow Pages to locate a vendor in your area.

After reformatting, it’s a good idea to keep your original materials because a better means of transferring the original material to a new format may become available in the future.

Technology is always changing! Your original format may be difficult for you to use if you don’t have the means to play that format back any longer. However, in some cases, as with transferring film to video, the film is actually superior in quality to the video even though you may more readily play back the material on video.

The preservation basics for audiovisual records are much the same as for any other archival format. Keep them in a clean, stable environment that is cool and dry. A variety of enclosures for many of the more common formats is available from archival storage suppliers.

Lint-free cotton gloves should always be used when handling certain types of sound and moving images, particularly motion picture film and open-reel audiotapes, because these records can be very susceptible to damage from fingerprints.

It's also very important to keep the playback equipment in good condition as damage can occur if a machine is not operating properly. Often these items are reformatted to a more contemporary system to avoid unnecessary wear on originals.

Final Word

You can greatly extend the life of your personal archives if you adopt these basic storage and handling practices. Many archival storage supplies can be purchased from art supply stores or photographic studios. Look in the telephone directory under "Artists' Materials & Supplies" or call your local museum, archives or gallery to find a distributor near you.

Make and use copies of important items to prevent wear and tear and damage to the originals, and be sure to retain the negatives of photographs.

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The Canadian Conservation Institute also provides valuable preservation information online as well as a comprehensive list of links on how to care for your collections at the Preserving My Heritage website, www.preservation.gc.ca.